Leading Change: A bespoke leadership course designed for changemakers
The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, is passionate about ensuring that as many young leaders as possible have access to practical guidance and resources to help support them on their leadership journey. Whether you are already running your own social enterprise or not-for-profit organisation, leading change in a less formal setting within your community, or simply interested in giving your skills and mindset a boost, we believe it is important to offer the opportunity for future learning and personal development to all.
As such, a Leading Change has been developed. Leading Change was originally created as a bespoke leadership course for young changemakers by The Institute for Continuing Education at The University of Cambridge for The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme (QYLP). QYLP discovered, celebrated and supported inspiring young people from across the Commonwealth. Between 2014 and 2018, as part of its Awards Programme, it trained, mentored and connected 522 young leaders from 53 Commonwealth countries who had shown exceptional leadership in their local communities and transformed not only their own lives, but the lives of others around them.
Module 1. Starting Out
This module is designed to help you evaluate you. You will write your own bio, looking at all the factors that that have contributed to who you are today, from close family and friends, to external influences such as political discourse, access to education and more. We will also work on identifying your personal definition of leadership, which will be useful in shaping your approach to the rest of the Leading Change course materials and develop a timeline of your actions to date and what you’d like to achieve in the future.
Module 2. All About Me
This module is dedicated to unlocking the power of effective communication. From being crystal clear on your motivations, to conveying your story in a way which establishes credibility, this module will help you convert passive listeners into active supporters of your work. ‘All about Me’ also looks at how you can best engage people of influence, and why asking for help is not a sign of weakness.
Module 3. Introduction to Leadership
This module is split into 3 sections, exploring the many definitions of leadership, helping you identify what it is you mean when you speak of leaders and leadership, before evaluating your own leadership style and how best to use that to your advantage. By focusing on your core capabilities as well as identifying those skills which you’d like to develop further, this module is a great overview for those looking to learn more about the fundamentals of leadership.
Module 4: Leadership Now
The perfect complement to Module 3, this module is dedicated to a deeper exploration of leadership styles, looking in particular at the relationship between emotional intelligence and its impact on leadership. This module provides space for you to evaluate your own skills, constructively critiquing your strengths and weaknesses and understanding how to apply these in your real-world context.
Module 5: Values and Conflict
This part of the course is dedicated to understanding your values and how they influence your decisions, for better or for worst. Through our interactions with people, our understanding of the world is enriched as we are introduced to different experiences and outlooks on life. At times, however, you may not agree with their views, and you may wonder how to reach a place of mutual understanding. This module will help you evaluate your values and how they affect your decision-making, better understand conflict and how it manifests, providing you with the tools to find a point of mutual understanding and create positive change.
Source: https://www.queenscommonwealthtrust.org/
